Surface Within The Microsoft Ecosystem

Just like a conventional ecosystem is made up of organisms that interact with one another in an environment, the Microsoft ecosystem is made up of software and hardware that work together. The Surface family of devices have been designed to fit perfectly into this symbiotic universe, making it the perfect on-the-go workstation for any business. In this article, we unpack the different Surface devices and how they interact with the Microsoft ecosystem.

Covered In This Article:

What Is The Microsoft Ecosystem Made Of?
The Advantage Of Microsoft Business Applications
Surface Is Made With Business In Mind
Surface And Windows Defender

The Microsoft Ecosystem can help companies shift toward digital business management, no matter how small. With this in mind, the Surface family of devices have been created to fit into this ecosystem, ensuring business productivity. Click here to find out more about the benefits of using Surface for business.

What Is The Microsoft Ecosystem Made Of?

The Microsoft stack is a set of applications and tools that are designed to work together – from the back-end database to coding languages (e.g., C#) and development environments (e.g., Visual Studio), all the way up to platforms and applications, like cloud apps, Microsoft (Office) 365, and business applications like Dynamics 365 Business Central. In short, the Microsoft Stack is made up of all these pieces, which the user (typically with the help of an implementation partner) chooses to build an end-to-end solution – all built on Microsoft technology.

Surface Pro 8 with Type Cover and Surface Pen

The Advantage Of Microsoft Business Applications

Digital business transformation is about creating value and a competitive edge for the customer by bringing people together, being data-driven, and streamlining processes. Microsoft business applications thereby allow unlocking limitless potential by radically changing how we operate internally and compete in the marketplace. This software ecosystem leverages digital transformation by enabling enterprise-wide innovation through technology. This creates a productive workspace that helps employees achieve more.

Dynamic 365

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a cloud-based business applications platform that combines components of customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP), along with productivity applications and artificial intelligence tools.

Office/ Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365 is the productivity cloud designed to help each of us achieve what matters, in our work and life, with best-in-class Office apps, intelligent cloud services, and industry-leading secure email.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a social network for professionals to connect, share, and learn. In June 2016 Microsoft bought the platform for $26.2 billion. The main goal of this acquisition was to accelerate growth at LinkedIn, as well as the Office 365 and Dynamics 365 product lines.

Flow/ Power Automate

Microsoft Power Automate, also known as Flow, is cloud-based software that allows employees to create and automate workflows and tasks across multiple applications and services without help from developers.

Power Apps

Power Apps is an application creator that enables users to build mobile- and web-based forms and apps with low or no code. The apps it enables can interact with data sources and services within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem.

Power BI

Power BI is a collection of software services, apps, and connectors that work together to turn your unrelated sources of data into coherent, visually immersive, and interactive insights. Your data may be an Excel spreadsheet or a collection of cloud-based and on-premises hybrid data warehouses.

Microsoft Intelligent Business Applications platform

Surface Is Made With Business In Mind

In recent years, Microsoft has gotten into the hardware side of computing with the Surface family of devices. This has given them the opportunity to showcase what the Microsoft Computational Universe (MCU) is capable of. Instead of creating a separate operating system (OS) for the Surface line, Microsoft has integrated the hardware to run on Windows. This includes all the bells and whistles that come with this OS which we all know and love.

Every layer of Surface from chip to cloud is maintained by Microsoft, giving you ultimate control, proactive protection, and peace of mind wherever and however work gets done. Surface devices ship with the strongest security protocols Microsoft offers and enables streamlined management that reduces IT complexity and helps users stay focused on their work.

Remote Management With The Microsoft Ecosystem

IT admins can remotely manage Surface devices without physically touching every device. Microsoft Endpoint Manager with Intune and Windows Autopilot enables full remote management of Surface devices from the Azure Cloud, delivering fully configured devices to users upon startup. Wipe and retire features allow IT to repurpose a device easily for a new remote user and wipe a device that's been stolen. This enables rapid and secure response capabilities in the event of loss or theft of a Surface device allowing you to remotely remove all company data and reconfigure Surface as an entirely new device.

Surface Laptop Studio

Surface & Windows Defender

When it comes to endpoint security, Microsoft Surfaces devices reign supreme. These devices benefit from one simple fact. Every line of code in the hardware, the firmware, the operating system, and the cloud is owned and developed by Microsoft. Their engineers control 100% of the code that runs on Surface devices. This uniquely positions Microsoft to design an unparalleled, holistic approach to endpoint security.

Microsoft Defender Antivirus is a major component of your next-generation protection in Microsoft Defender for Endpoint. This protection brings together machine learning, big-data analysis, in-depth threat resistance research, and the Microsoft cloud infrastructure to protect devices (or endpoints) in your organization. Microsoft Defender Antivirus is built into Windows, and it works with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint to provide protection on your device and in the cloud.

What to expect when Microsoft Defender Antivirus is in active mode, passive mode, or disabled:

• Active mode: In active mode, Microsoft Defender Antivirus is used as the primary antivirus app on the device. Files are scanned, threats are remediated, and detected threats are listed in your organization's security reports and in your Windows Security app.
• Passive mode: In passive mode, Microsoft Defender Antivirus is not used as the primary antivirus app on the device. Files are scanned, and detected threats are reported, but threats are not remediated by Microsoft Defender Antivirus. IMPORTANT: Microsoft Defender Antivirus can run in passive mode only on endpoints that are onboarded to Microsoft Defender for Endpoint. See Requirements for Microsoft Defender Antivirus to run in passive mode.
• Disabled or uninstalled: When disabled or uninstalled, Microsoft Defender Antivirus is not used. Files are not scanned, and threats are not remediated. In general, we do not recommend disabling or uninstalling Microsoft Defender Antivirus.

Microsoft Surface has been using a unified approach to firmware protection and device security since 2015 through complete end-to-end ownership of the hardware design, in-house firmware development, and a holistic approach to device updates and management.

For Surface, our Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) is maintained in-house, regularly updated through Windows Update, and seamlessly deployed for management through Windows Autopilot, minimising risk and maximizing control at the firmware level before the device boots. Microsoft provides full transparency of the codebase in its UEFI through the Open Source Project Mu on GitHub, managed by Microsoft Endpoint Manager.

Surface Laptop 4

Enterprise-Level Security With The Microsoft Ecosystem

Every layer of Surface from chip to cloud is developed and maintained by Microsoft, giving you ultimate control, proactive protection, and peace of mind wherever and however work gets done. Businesses that combine Surface devices with Microsoft 365 Enterprise see real impact, reporting increased efficiency and lower costs.

Up to 20% fewer security breaches for Surface users

Firms reduced the number of security breaches they experienced annually for Surface device users.

Up to 17% reduction in endpoint security spend

Firms saved costs by decommissioning or rolling back their use of third-party security solutions.

Up to 14.4% less spent on mobile device management

A reduction in third-party security spending also reduced spending on mobile device management.